TSX Continues Recovery from Earlier Losses

Equities in Canada’s largest market climbed on Thursday as mining and energy stocks advanced, with gains in Bombardier after its upbeat targets for 2025 also supporting the benchmark.

The TSX grabbed 133.53 points to break for lunch Thursday at 19,666.31.

The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.4 cents to 73.34 cents U.S.

Bombardier soared $4.52, or 7.3% to $66.34, to log its biggest gain in more than two months after it raised its 2025 revenue and free cash flow targets at its investor day, banking on strong demand for private flights.

Capstone Copper was the top loser on the index after the copper miner announced a bought secondary deal offering of $285 million. Capstone dropped 40 cents, or 6.6%, midday to $5.62.

For all its twists and turns, on a quarterly basis, TSX is up 1.4%, clinging to early gains from January when investors returned to battered markets from 2022.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX gained 6.66 points, or 1.1%, to 612.68.

All 12 TSX subgroups were higher, led by information technology, soaring 2.2%, while gold was 1.7% brighter, and materials rumbled 1.2% higher.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks rebounded Thursday from a 500-point loss in the Dow Jones Industrial Average as investors bet the Federal Reserve was done hiking interest rates.

The 30-stock index popped 399.14 points, or 1.3%, to 32,429.25.

The S&P 500 jumped 60.45 points, or 1.5%, to 3,997.45.

The NASDAQ Composite hiked 261.24 points, or 2.2%, to 11,931.23.

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Technology shares led the way as investors reduced their Fed hike bets and Treasury yields declined. Microsoft, Nvidia and Apple were among the biggest gainers in the group, which was the hardest hit part of the market as the Fed raised rates 9 straight times in about a year. The turn lower in rates this month is causing investors to rotate back into tech shares.

Block is still a good value stock according to Baird, despite concerns over the ease of which criminal activity can persist on the company’s CashApp service. Shares of Block plummeted in early trading Thursday.

Meanwhile, Baird posits that in a “pretty dire case” where the company loses roughly 20% of CashApp accounts, the result could amount to an 8% hit to total gross profit.

The Fed’s decision and subsequent comments by Chair Jerome Powell at the conclusion of the policymakers’ two-day meeting on Wednesday weighed on stocks.

The central bank raised rates by 25 basis points, as expected. It also hinted that its inflation-fighting tightening campaign could be nearing the end, with the removal of the phrase “ongoing increases” from its statement. While Powell said that “rate cuts are not in our base case” for the remainder of 2023, traders priced in expectations of the central bank lowering rates this year.

Jobless claims unexpectedly nudged lower last week, pointing to a labour market that remains extremely tight.

Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 191,000 for the week ended March 18, below the estimate for 198,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was a decline of 1,000 from the previous period.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury slid, moving yields higher to 3.47% from Wednesday’s 3.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices perked 57 cents to $71.47 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices advanced $39.50 to $1,989.10 U.S. an ounce.